Saskwatch’s second LP, Nose Dive, is released this Friday, April 11. AARON BRYANS chats with vocalist, Nkechi Anele.
Starting from the bottom, Saskwatch are the perfect example of working your way to the top – taking every opportunity and experience available and incorporating it into their craft to produce layered genius.
Blooming as buskers on the streets of Melbourne, Saskwatch immediately revealed their incredible talent as a live band, an attribute they hold to this day.
“When Saskwatch started as buskers on the street we weren’t even called Saskwatch,” vocalist, Nkechi Anele, explains. “It had over 20 members to it that were always interchanging. A few members including myself came a bit later on as the band was developing and playing a lot more. But the majority of the people in the band were the original members of the busking group.”
Over the years the numbers would reduce as it became apparent who could fully commit to the rigorous schedules of the band, leaving behind other life aspects. Their hectic tour schedule has never stopped. Ever since the release of their 2012 LP, Leave It All Behind, the band have been devoted to their fans and their live reputation.
“We’ve always played live. As a band we started out busking. We’ve always tried things out live. We’re not a band that sits in a studio writing an album and then does a tour. We’re a band who’s all about performing our new stuff live and gaining from the audience if the songs are doing well or not. The band has basically been brought up in the live music scene. It’s our natural outlet to be playing live. It’s what we all want to be doing in our lives. The vibe can never be bad. It’s exactly what we want to be.
“Sometimes it can be really hard and things won’t turn out the way we expected them to be. The accommodation can be really shit or the weather really crap or people get sick; but overall the vibe when touring with this band is always up.”
Squeezed in between their touring schedule; Saskwatch have finalised their sophomore release, Nose Dive. Exploring life’s highs and lows, the LP shines in its ability to encapsulate Saskwatch’s live energy into layers of musical brilliance. Recorded over three weeks (in comparison to three days for their first release) with Lachlan ‘Magoo’ Goold at Applewood Lane Studios in rural Queensland, the nine-piece strengthened and built on their diversity.
“The first time we recorded, we’d played the majority of the songs the first few months before we performed them,” Nkechi reveals. “This time it was more about actually having time to knock them out. The three weeks were great because we were away from home in a pretty isolated area so it was easy to focus on getting the best performance out. We were staying at a great place and it was really enjoyable.
“Having a producer work on the album with us was something we hadn’t really done before; it was a new thing that we were trying out. Also the album was completely different to our first one; it sounds a lot more professional. Using a lot of different aspects, like keyboards and adding a lot more layers to the music, was something that we were experimenting with in this album.”
